MONTEL WILLIAMS' BLUNT-TALKING WAYS

TV talk show host Montel Williams, who suffers from multiple
sclerosis, offers one reason why he regularly uses marijuana: "It's
keeping me alive." He tells us that thanks to pot, "I am a
contributing member of society -- but the second I can't use medical
marijuana, you lose my tax dollars because I start staying in bed,
wallowing in chronic pain."

Williams, 48, who divides his time between New York and Los Angeles, is
in town tonight to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Marijuana
Policy Project, which supports reforming what he calls "stupid and
ignorant" laws that subject him to criminal penalties for using pot.
Also slated to speak at the gala at the Washington Court Hotel:
Democratic Reps. Barney Frank (Mass.), Dennis Kucinich (Ohio) and Linda
Sanchez (Calif.).

Williams, whose MS was diagnosed in 1999, concedes that marijuana
might not help all patients but calls it a safer course for him than
popping potentially addictive painkillers: "I have doctors who can
write me a prescription for OxyContin, the most powerful pain pill on
the planet, and if they are smart enough to do that, why can't they
write me a prescription for marijuana? . . . My worst side effect
might be a mild euphoria, which is way less than OxyContin or Percocet
or Vicodin."

Williams, who smoked dope recreationally in high school and college,
now prefers eating cannabis to relieve his debilitating leg and foot
pain. It is now available in various edible forms. "They simmer it
down to a paste that you can put on a cookie or in chili or in a
meatloaf, if you want."

Meanwhile, the Office of National Drug Control Policy yesterday
released a report suggesting that smoking marijuana during the teen
years increases the likelihood of depression, schizophrenia and
suicide attempts. Tom Riley, a spokesman for the office, said advocacy
groups such as the Marijuana Policy Project are actually pushing drug
legalization and "cynically" exploiting sick people who use pot.
"There is a con going on here, and I am surprised that smart people
continue to fall for it," he told us.